Reptile & Amphibian Forums

You are not the oldest person here...I think I may be. I will turn 59 this October. Reptiles have always been my first love but I had to put them off while I raised my three kids and took care of all the mammals on this farm. Actually, I had almost forgotten about herps until my daughter took me to a reptile show. I got hooked...BAD! It was one of my dreams to hold an Anaconda and I got to do it at this show (at a later show this 12' snake bit me...not too bad). I decided that boas were my favorite so I purchased a baby pastel bci (who is now over 4' long). Then came a Nicaraguan bci...the hubby asked me to hold off on any more snake acquisitions so I did. Then my son-in-law purchased a veiled chameleon he named "Spin Doctor" and I fell in love again. "Ichabob" came to live with me four months ago as a tiny baby and is now a little more than 5" from schnozz to vent. You just can't resist those googly eyes! Now I want panther chams and only heaven knows where it will go from there. My wonderful hubby is trembling in his shoes, Lol!

I am a professional watercolorist, have paintings in a couple of galleries (Hi, Sonia!) and also teach it at a university here. I have been following your heartbreaking trials with your pygmy chams and hope you will try them again someday.

Well, that's my story and I would really like to hear how other people got into chameleons. This forum has been a godsend to me.

Sorry for ramblin' on!

Marilyn

I love working in watercolor. I wish we sold more art out of my gallery. Most of what I do is custom framing, especially commercial accounts banks, offices, schools, the superbowl champs
I do so much framing I don't have time to paint anymore
We should photograph our artwork and send some to each other. I would like to see it and as a teacher you can critique mine.
I am mostly self taught but would like to take classes if I had the time.

Hi Marilyn,

Terrific... another golden oldie!! *LOL*
I thought I was the oldest gal - but seems not.

Hubby and I have always had unusual pets: two legged; four legged and no legged. Several years ago we got interested in chameleons after seeing some specials on the Discovery channel. Now, that seems like decades ago - and chams rule the house.

In an honest conservation effort, we began to breed panthers as our retirement project. That soon expanded to include veiled; melleri; stumptails; flapnecks; deremensis; quadricornis; jacksons and rudis. I doubt that is the limit of species - as we find them all so marvelous.

Recently, we became involved in local rescues. Now the menagerie includes blue-tongued skinks; crested geckos; flying geckos; a few snakes and several frogs. Riding herd on all the herps is our energetic scottie dog - and he doubles as our cricket wrangler too.

Currently we have over 130 enclosures at our breeding facility (outside the home); our home has chams in every room; the nursery always has hatchlings/neonates, and the closets are full of plastic shoe boxes with eggs. I truly don't know where we would put more - but I know we will.

I retired from being a CPA. Instead of counting beans (someone else's), now I count chams and eggs (our own). Hubby will retire in a few years from the construction field - he is still hanging high steel at 60 .

Good to meet you!
Morgana - Reptayls, Ltd.

Great to meet you too, Morgana! Do you have a website? I wish my hubby was THAT involved with herps. After so many years of trudging out to the barn and fields at 6am to feed, milk and/or treat critters that weighed anywhere from 90 to 800 pounds, just going to another warm room to do the feeding is a blessing! Especially when the temps were bottoming out at 25 below zero and there was a screaming blizzard ripping through the fields AND you had to take a sledge hammer with you to break the ice on the pond AND the animals were trying to trample you from behind to get to the water AND the water was freezing up again almost as soon as you broke the ice AND THEN with the tears freezing on your face from the pain in your frozen extremities you then realize that you are going to have to carry innumerable GALLONS of hot water from the house to the barn..well...I could go on and on but this has nothing to do with chameleons. Jeepers, the forum moderator is going to get me kicked off.

I really enjoyed reading the posts you and Sonia wrote! I also think that there are going to be a lot more chameleons living here in the future.

Colorfully yours,

Marilyn

Marilyn,
I doubt the moderator will kick you..... *LOL*

Deep snow eh? Sounds like some of the winters I saw as a kid. But I never had to break through ice for the livestock!! Yikes!!

Now it is the Pacific Northwest for me... and no snow (unless I drive a couple of hours. I like it this way much better.

Hope you get lots more chams.....
Morgana

np